Piech, Porsche families say united behind Volkswagen management

The Piech and Porsche families that manage over 52 percent of Volkswagen have sworn to back senior management, reserving previous disputes as the automakers struggles to get rid of an emissions scandal, Der Spiegel reported.

During an interview, Hans Michel Piech and Wolfgang Porsche pledged assistance for Volkswagen chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch and CEO Matthias Mueller, and said they would stay out of everyday operational affairs at Germany’s biggest automaker.

The two families had clashed during the times when Ferdinand Piech was his family’s agent on Volkswagen’s supervisory board, a post he resigned from in 2015, paving the way for his brother, Hans Michel.

Some financiers feared bickering between the two families would hinder decision-making as the company works to cut costs and adjust to brand-new market patterns such as electronic and self-driving.

“We are different and we see our task as agents of the families different,” Hans Michel Piech said, but he and Wolfgang Porsche both stressed their capability to find consensus.

Porsche stated that would remain the case in spite of a current decision to increase the number of member of the family with voting power to 34.

“Not all 34 will end up being supervisory board members, or have a say in discussions, and not all them want to. Exactly what is necessary is that the next generation of suitable family members have an interest in the matter and do not just wait for the dividend to show up,” he stated.